The present invention relates, in general, to a camera system, and more particularly to a film camera system of a type including a housing and a film magazine, wherein the housing includes an opening through which the film can be supplied from the opening in the film magazine and can also be returned to the film magazine, and wherein the film magazine--when viewed in the normal position of the camera housing--can be affixed in a first position essentially above the housing and in a second position essentially on the rear side of the housing facing away from the objective.
Known systems of this type allow positioning of the film magazine in the aforementioned two positions in order to obtain better control of the film camera. If the camera is supported by a shoulder tripod, then securing the film magazine on the rear side of the camera balances the weight better on the shoulder of the cameraman. The cameraman then has to support only the weight of the camera and does not have to exert an additional force to prevent the camera from tilting.
Mounting the camera on a stationary tripod also provides better access to the eyepiece. The camera can also more easily be rotated and tilted with the film magazine in the top position.
Conventional film camera systems have two openings capable of receiving the film magazine, whereby the opening which does not receive the film magazine can be closed by a cover plate. Other types of conventional cameras have housing with only one opening. With these cameras, however, different cover and connecting plates are used for covering the housing opening in the two magazine positions.
A drawback of both these camera designs is the need for a relatively great number of parts and fasteners, adding to the complexity of the manufacturing process and making it more difficult to keep the parts in inventory. The individual parts are also difficult to handle, making it harder to operate the camera, since the small cover and connecting parts can be easily misplaced or lost, resulting in lost production time.